The Politics of Transparency

The body politic of the 4As believes that there is nothing wrong with making moneyamp160 Agency public holding companies are not slaves to their clientsamp160 They are only really beholden to their shareholdersamp160 Capitalism is what built this country and their creative initiative is what drives innovationamp160 They have families to feed as is true of all the other sectors in the communication enterprise supply chainTo their way of thinking as long as marketersamp8217 communication goals are achieved marketers should understand that their agency fees be they percent commissions or revenues based on time and materials will simply not do andor are not enough in the long run to keep the agency afloat given the chaotic and often disruptive impact that technology is having on delivering a daily stable reliable service that agencies are supposed to deliver to their clientsItamp8217s not unlike the political difference between the reported unemployment rate vs the actual unemployment rateOf course the ANA sees it differentlyamp160 Their position is that agencies answer to marketers first not the agency shareholdersamp160 Fees from marketers keep the lights on at the agency not Wall Streetamp160 With capitalism comes the free market system of competitionamp160 If an agency is lucky enough to win a marketeramp8217s business the compensation should be transparent between the marketer and the agency at the time the contract is signedThe marketer is first and foremost in the business of selling their products and servicesamp160 Thatamp8217s how they make moneyThey hire agencies a as they are domain experts in advertising b so that the marketer can concentrate on things they are best at and c so that the agency can focus primarily on the brand communication As detailed in the new film The Founder McDonaldamp8217s for example focuses on delivering QSCampampV Ray Krocamp8217s famous acronym summarizing quality service convenience and value to billions of consumers dailyamp160 Their agency doesnamp8217t amp8220flipamp8221 the burgersamp160 Their job rather is to help them amp8220sellamp8221 the burgers hopefully with great imagery and daily reminders in the QSR warWhen a marketer must focus on how their agencies are behaving it takes their eye off the war they are waging for consumer awareness and brand loyalty amp160It sucks time and resources away from their core QSCampampV mission focus amp160Itamp8217s not that different from say Abraham Lincolnamp8217s predicament during the American Civil War when he quipped about how he didnamp8217t know which was worse the war against the Confederacy in front of him or the war between his generals behind himThe difference between the 4As versus the ANA is the same philosophical difference between the thinking that amp8220War is too important to be left to the politiciansamp8221 versus amp8220War is too important to be left to the generalsamp8221amp160 In essence the 4As believes the generals know best while the ANA thinks that the politicians doamp160Who is rightamp160Paraphrasing Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address amp8220Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether marketers or agencies can long endure on this great multiscreen communications battlefield amp8230 it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do thisamp8221The politics of transparency therefore is all about what side you are onamp160 History shows us that the chains of slavery were only won after Lincolnamp8217s Union formed the team that focused on the real war in front of them versus behind them which ultimately helped them to accomplish their objectivesamp160 Todayamp8217s CEOs and CMOs must do no lessIn 2017 though the stakes are nowhere near as dire marketers must confront success and failure in the battlefield of their sector every dayamp160 The agency team that ultimately wins the day with them will be the one that focuses on the marketeramp8217s KPIs first to create amp8220a more perfect unionamp8221 between themselves and their marketer clients and choose against being a slave to the doubledealing which happens behind the lines and beneath the daylight of transparencyThe trust must be rebuilt between marketer and agency and between the ANA and the 4As Transparency is the key to trust Only when this trust is rebuilt can the related engines of advertising and marketing work together smoothly At which point we can all get back to businessTim McHale contributed to this columnClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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